Kallee and Tamara

Kallee and Tamara
A Beautiful Summer Day.

Madam Kallee, CTD, CGC - 1994-2005 - Certified Therapy Dog and a Canine Good Citizen

Madam Kallee, CTD, CGC - 1994-2005 - Certified Therapy Dog and a Canine Good Citizen
I am so pretty!

Kallee, T.D.I., CGC - Certified Therapy Dog and a Canine Good Citizen - 1994-2005

Kallee, T.D.I., CGC - Certified Therapy Dog and a Canine Good Citizen - 1994-2005
I loved to pose for the camera.

Hat Girl.

Hat Girl.
The things I do for my mom!

Happiness.

Happiness.
Bubby knows how to scratch a tummy.

Best of Friends.

Best of Friends.
Mine! No, Mine!, No Mine!!!

Whew !

Whew !
Bubby wears me out!

This is the Life.

This is the Life.
Just relaxing with bubby.

Kallee and Mr. Monkey

Kallee and Mr. Monkey
See Mr. Monkey? Wanna play?

Miss Cool.

Miss Cool.
I loved to wear my shades.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Mingle With The Mutts.

Mingle with the Mutts’ set for Saturday

ONA — Little Victories Animal Rescue is hosting “Mingle with the Mutts” from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, the Little Victories Farm, located at the end of Wire Branch Road. Stop at the brown house with the purple doors. Hot drinks and snacks will be served. Guests will have a chance to visit rescued dogs, cats, puppies and kittens and perhaps choose a companion. All the animals have their shots, are spayed or neutered and are healthy. E-mail btzankoff@tzankoff.com with questions or call (304) 743-5802. Leave a message and a volunteer will return your call.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Remembering Your "Other" Family Member.

As you know, Christmas is coming. This is a time for rejoicing and being with family. If you are like I am, my dog, Chance, is a big part of my family. My step-son is 18 now and Christmas is really for little children, so, we will spend on Chance. My step-son just wants money so he can pick out what he wants. I saw a great article in the paper on Nov. 18Th about a boutique called Ooh LaLa in Westmoreland. I had heard about this shop from a lady that had her little poodle, Cubby, in the same obedience class as Chance at Timbral Pet Services. I haven't been to this boutique myself, but I plan to now that I have seen this article. They carry luxury items such as Juicy Couture and Ed Hardy. But, they also have outfits that fit dogs from teacup size to 100 pounds. Other items include playpens, which are great for the toy breeds, collars, stairs for the pet that isn't as spry as they used to be, and much more. If you get a chance, take a trip to Westmoreland and check them out. Remember, when buying treats, rawhide treats are O.K., but they can cause gastric problems, such as blockage, bloating, and they can cause the gums to bleed if you let your dog chew for long periods. Let your dog chew for awhile, and then take the treat and put it up, substituting with a toy. Also, any stuffed toys need careful supervision. Your dog may be a chewer/tearer and will get the stuffing out of the toy and possibly ingest it. I have a friend that had to have surgery on his German Shepherd because she decided she liked the inside better of her stuffie and tore it out and ate it. Her intestinal tract became blocked, resulting in surgery. Keeping your pet happy and healthy is so important. Remember, dogs and cats have feelings. Dogs, more than cats, actually feel left out. Dogs are pack animals, as cats are solitary creatures. But, that does not mean that they (cats) can't and don't feel left out, too. Have a great holiday and remember to give a little extra attention to your "other" family member(s).

Friday, November 23, 2007

New Toy Prissypants.

In May of this year, my sub-division at Frazier's Lane in Lesage, WV, had the community yard sale. One of my neighbors had a huge tub full of dog toys. I bought them and have given most of them to my dog and my neighbor's dog, Eli. (his picture is on this blog; the little Australian Shepherd). The others I am taking to Little Victories when I have my next meeting with Sue. Have you ever noticed how your dog acts when you give them a new toy? My dog, Chance, gets the "prissypants," as I call it. He got to get his last toy out of the bag. He rooted around, actually threw a couple out of the bag, searched around till he finally found the "right" one. He took off toward the bedroom like he had turned on his after-burner. He got on the bed and then jumped off and actually prissed through the hallway into the living room. And, when he gets a new toy, he carries it everywhere. He will even pee holding it in his mouth. It is so funny. Just thought I would share that little story. If you have a funny story, leave it as a post and I will post it.

Pit Bull Loves Chewing Bark Off Park Trees.

Pennsylvania pit bull owner could pay $3,100 for pet’s love of chewing bark off park trees. A pit bull that likes to get a lot of bark in its bite could end up costing its owner $3,100. This summer, Tyler Port allowed his dog, Rossman, to run loose in a park. The dog apparently had a habit of chewing bark off trees, and Port was cited for failure to keep the dog under control. John Iorio, the city’s dog law officer, also is seeking $3,100 to cover the cost of replacing three honey locust trees, which a consultant said may die. Port, 22, says his dog had an “infatuation” with trees and enjoyed rubbing up against them and hanging on their limbs from her teeth.
“The kids loved it, so I allowed it,” Port said. “Once someone expressed concern, it ceased.” Port said he was optimistic an agreement could be reached and the charges would be dropped.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Remember That Homeless Animal in Your Neighborhood.









Chance and I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. If you see a homeless animal in your neighborhood, take a minute to give it a little food, and clean water, if possible. I know that might be asking a lot, but have you ever had a time in your life that you were alone? I have. Maybe that is why I can sympathize with these animals as much as I can and do. Happy Holidays.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Animal Friends Looking for Rummage Sale Donations.

Animal Friends is picking up donations for indoor rummage sales throughout the winter. A free pick-up service is provided for both large and small items. All proceeds from the sales fund Animal Friends’ no-kill shelter and free spay/neuter service. Call (304) 429-2053 for more information.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Vick Owes $900,000 in Dog Care Bills.

(CNN) -- The government asked a federal court Tuesday to order former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to keep on hand assets valued at more than $900,000 -- the amount earmarked for the care of 54 pit bulls. Michael Vick leaves court in Richmond, Viriginia, in August after pleading guilty to dogfighting charges. The animals were found on his property when a dogfighting operation was busted last April. Vick turned himself in to authorities Monday to get a jump start on serving his sentence for running the ring. In a motion filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson noted that Vick, in his plea agreement, agreed to pay "restitution for the full amount of the costs associated with the disposition of all dogs" in the case. Vick agreed that those costs could include "the long-term care and/or the humane euthanasia of some or all of those animals," which were seized from the "Bad Newz Kennels" on his property in Surry County, Virginia. The motion said that only a restraining order can ensure that Vick's assets are not placed beyond the reach of the government. It noted that Vick's financial condition is deteriorating, and cited the team's attempt to recoup bonus money from his 10-year, $130 million 2004 football contract; his alleged default on a $1.3 million bank loan for a wine store; another bank lawsuit seeking payment for default on a $2.5 million line of credit; and yet another bank's lawsuit seeking at least $2 million for loans related to a car-rental business. "In addition, published reports also indicate that Vick is in the process of selling assets, specifically a suburban Atlanta home listed at $4.5 million," it said. Vick, 27, is being held at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, until an upcoming sentencing hearing. He pleaded guilty in August to a federal conspiracy charge of bankrolling the dogfighting operation after three associates admitted their own roles in the ring and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Vick, who has been suspended indefinitely by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, faces 12to 18 months in prison on the conspiracy charge. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 10. On September 25, a Virginia grand jury indicted Vick and the three co-defendants on state charges of running a dogfighting ring. The Surry County grand jury brought two felony charges against the four men: one count of unlawfully torturing and killing dogs and one of promoting dogfights. Each could result in a five-year prison term.

Think Before You Give Left-overs To Your Dog.

QUESTION: Can certain foods that are safe for humans be toxic to dogs?

DR. BINGHAM: You might be surprised at how seemingly innocuous foods and beverages can be harmful, even fatal, to the family dog, depending on the dog’s size and how much is eaten. With the holidays on the way, it’s more important than ever to be aware of the risks.

Chocolate – A treasured treat for us, chocolate can be fatal to dogs. Containing a chemical called theobromine, even small amounts can lead to a problem.

Onions – Halitosis aside, onions can cause hemolytic anemia, a condition that destroys a dog’s red blood cells. And they can have a cumulative effect.

Macadamia nuts – Experts are not sure why just yet, but just a few Macadamia nuts can induce tremors and even temporary weakness in a dog’s hind legs.

Coffee – Caffeine is a methylxanthine compound which can increase a dog’s heart rate and trigger seizures.

Alcohol – Don’t let your Beagle belly up to the bar – alcohol depresses brain function and can cause a coma.

While your dog may find the same foods as appetizing as you, it doesn’t mean they’ll be just as safe for him. When in doubt it’s always wiser to reward your canine with real dog treats or dog food, not human fare.

If you have a question for Dr. Bingham, please send it to DrB@biljac.com.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Little Victories to Host Benefit Dinner.

BARBOURSVILLE -- Little Victories Animal Rescue Group will be sponsoring a benefit dinner to raise funds to complete the construction of its no-kill animal sanctuary in Ona. The dinner will be held on Monday, Nov. 26, at Rocco's Ristorante, located at 252 Main St., Ceredo. Reservations are required and are available by calling Buck Crews at (304) 529-2391. Tickets cost $65. I know this seems like a lot of money for a dinner, but winter is coming fast, and there are many, many, many homeless animals that need help. Finishing the shelter means that these animals will have a chance at a new life. Sue Brown and the many volunteers work so hard trying to save them all. With your help, they, and you, will make a great difference.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Vicious Dog Law.

We’ve been telling you for the last couple of months the city of Logan is stepping up their vicious dog ordinance. Enforcement of new laws will start next week. November 20th, which is next Tuesday, is the last day you have to register your dog.
The breeds that fit the requirement are Pit Bulls, Doberman Pinchers, Rottweilers or any dog of the Wolfe species. There is a fee of $300 to register the animal. If the dog is not registered by the Tuesday deadline the city will quarantine the dog.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Genetics.

Inbreeding, Linebreeding and Crossbreeding in Dogs:

Some animal breeders, including many dog breeders, make a distinction between inbreeding (mating mother/son, father/daughter, brother/sister) and linebreeding(mating say grandparent/grandchild, aunt/nephew). To a geneticist linebreeding and inbreeding only differ in degree. Inbreeding occurs when animals are bred to their relatives. The closer the relationship the higher the "inbreeding coefficient". Inbreeding coefficients measure the degree of inbreeding an animal shows relative to a randomly breeding population. Inbreeding reduces fertility, vigour or overall health and mental stability. Inbred animals are more prone to diseases such as infections and cancer, and more likely to be "highly strung". To understand why this happens we need to consider basic genetics: All animals, including people and dogs, carry two copies of each gene - one from our mother and one from our father. These genes are unique sequences of DNA, each of which codes for a unique protein. Changes in the DNA code (called mutations) change the structure of the protein produced by the gene and as a result change the way the protein works. Because evolution has for millions of years selected for perfection of performance most changes or mutations are less effective than the original gene copy. The chance of having an abnormal copy, or mutation, of any one particular gene is low, but because we have so many genes we all carry some harmful genes. These genes are usually hidden because we have one good copy of the gene to carry us through and this gene produces a normal protein which can perform the tasks required. When we have two different copies of a gene we are said to be HETEROZYGOUS for that gene and if one gene copy is hidden by the other, the hidden copy is said to be RECESSIVE. If both copies of a gene are the same then we are HOMOZYGOUS and if the copy is "bad" then that gene won't work normally and we will be to some degree less healthy. Some single genes are so important that affected animals die, or suffer debilitating disease and some have only minor effects - affecting for example jaw structure or coat colour, the efficiency of an antibody molecule, the structure of a neurotransmitter or the shape of a red blood cell. As animals are mated to their relatives, however distant, simple mathematics will show that the likelyhood of any one gene becoming homozygous will increase. As homozygosity increases, variation among offspring decreases. The dog breeder takes advantage of this in line breeding to produce a breed which "breeds true" and conforms to a "breed standard" and within the breed to produce offspring that are like peas in a pod. Breeders look for a "prepotent" sire or bitch ( ie one that always throws pups very similar to itself). These animals come from a "good linebred pedigree" - that is one that is inbred so that the animal is homozygous for as many as possible of the characteristics that the breeder regards as desirable. Unfortunately this search for perfection and uniformity comes at a cost. Undesirable genes also become increasingly likely to be homozygous and so affect the health of the animal. Most of these genes have minor effects which gradually accumulate. There are many genes involved in traits like fertility, immune competence and mental stability and accumulation of homozygous recessive "bad" genes gradually diminishes the function of these systems. If inbreeding increases homozygosity, crossbreeding is its opposite and maximises heterozygosity. Crossbreeding is the mainstay of most farm animal and plant production - it takes advantage of a phenomenon which is widely talked about but poorly understood: HYBRID VIGOUR (or for the geneticists - HETEROSIS) is the term used to describe the burst of fertility, good health and growth that is seen in the progeny when two unrelated breeds are mated. The longer that these breeds have been separated, and the greater the differences between them, the stronger will be the resulting hybrid vigour. Hybrid vigour is not a theory, it is the name given to describe something that happens repeatably throughout all species in the animal and plant kingdom. When unrelated breeds of any animal species are mated the offspring in the first generation will be more healthy, fertile, and (in animals) mentally stable than either parent breed. This first F1 (Filial1) generation as the geneticists call it, will be intermediate in characterisics to the parent breeds and the offspring will resemble each other. Lets look at how this works using a simple model with only 9 genes. (Note that a convention in genetics is that small case letters are used to denote recessive genes and large case letters are used to denote dominant genes.) Say we have a dog of breed (A) which always has has long ears (aaBB), Short legs (CCdd), black coat (EE) and, by chance because of years of breeding within a small gene pool, has the "fertility" genes FF gg hh II. The bitch of breed (B) has short ears (AAbb), long legs (ccDD) a gold coat (ee) and, again by chance, the "fertility" genes ff GG HH ii. The cross would look like this:

(A)
aa BB CC dd EE FF gg hh II
X
(B)
AA bb cc DD ee ff GG HH ii
Producing an F1
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii

These offspring will have medium ears (A-B-) and medium length legs (C-D-). They will be black (Ee) because only one gene is involved and black is dominant to gold, and they will be more fertile than either parent. Genes for mental stability and "vigour" - like these fertility genes - become more homozygous with inbreeding and in the first cross will be as heterozygous as it is possible with that breed combination. This example oversimplifies matters - in reality thousands of genes are involved, dominance/recessive relationships are not that simple and different breeds have many genes in common, however it does demonstrate the way in which hybrid vigour works and why the F1 progeny are similar to each other. The degree of similarity in the F1 progeny will, as in purebreeding, depend on how homozygous the parent breeds are. Certainly if two animals of different breeds are mated and if both parents are highly strung, and if this nervous behavious is genetically based, and if the same genes are involved in both parents, then crossbred progeny will probably also be highly strung or neurotic. Clearly however this is less likely than if these two animals are of the same breed and related in some way. This example can also be used to show why hybrid vigour only works in the first generation and why "mongrels" or "mutts" come in all shapes and sizes. While our theoretical F1 - produced from highly homozygous parents, has only one genetic combination possible, if an F1 was crossed with another F1 there would be many hundreds of possible combinations produced in the "F2" generation. These offspring would range from almost the same as one grandparent to almost the same as the other, with every possible combination in between and while most of these would be more heterozygous than the grandparent generation most of them would be less heterozygous than the parent F1s. It is possible to prevent this deterioration in health and vigour by limiting linebreeding and by selecting rigourously for highly fertile, vigorous, long lived, mentally stable animals. Responsible, intelligent dog breeders do just that. Unfortunately the the problem arises - what does one do with the less healthy, vigorous, and mentally stable animals? The answer in livestock breeding is that they are sold to an abbatoir - in purebred dog breeding they are usually sold as pets.
Another feature of crossbreeding used in livestock breeding is "complementarity" -the term used to describe the way two breeds can be combined to overcome defects in one or other breed - the way two bloodlines "nick" in dog breeding terms. The example which is commonly applied in cattle is the crossing of a dairy cow with a beef breed to produce a calf which has hybrid vigour and will be fertile healthy and fast growing. The heifer calf will also have better muscling than the dairy parent and better milk production than the beef parent and in this way the two breeds are complementary. Should the heifer calf be retained for breeding she could be backcrossed to either parent breed or - as is more commonly practiced - bred to a third breed in a "three breed rotation" which will retain the benefits of hybrid vigour, complementarity and reliable uniformity in the offspring. I am a country veterinarian and for a long time I have been aware of the trouble that purebred dog breeders are unintentionally getting their animals into. The practice of closing the stud book once a breed is "recognised" is, to me, a practice which benefits dog breeders but works to the detriment of the breed. I am not a traditional dog breeder and my bias is towards breeding dogs as life enriching companions for people rather than breeding dogs to preserve animals of an idealized type in perpetuity. I have chosen to breed Labradoodles for reasons outlined elsewhere. I believe that there is scope for other crossbred dogs to be deliberately bred. I realise that this approach to dog breeding is frowned on but I think that by creative application of crossbreeding new breed combinations can be produced which bring together desirable characteristics from different breeds. There is no reason why breeds of dogs should be treated as if they are separate (and increasingly endangered) species as is presently the case. The challenge is to develop checklist of desirable characteristics and then find the breeds most likely to complement each other. Complementary breeds should not share common structural problems, such as Hip Dysplasia, or Luxating Patellae and should have temperament characteristics which combine well. Single gene problems such as Haemophilia or Progressive Retinal Atrophy would still need to be screened for if they occurred in both parent breeds but carriers are not be a problem in this system because the progeny are not be bred from. Remember that the second generation is likely to be more variable and have less hybrid vigour than the F1 so breeding F1 to F1 is unwise unless the breeder is trying to create a new breed and doesn't mind breeding a lot of funny looking , and possibly unsatisfactory, dogs on the way. I don't want to create a new breed or produce puppies which are all identical - only puppies which are all healthy, intelligent, full of personality and with attributed which make them good family pets.